Mirror of Malice
by CrazyNutSquirrel
Summary: The sequel to Demon Dance, Timothy is 13 now, and strange things are happening. Ressurected foes will face them, what will happen? Rated T for a reason.
1. Chapter 1

Mirror of Malice

**Some of you might just skip to the prologue bellow but for those of you who read this... congrats. If you read Demon Dance and liked it, I am pleased to present you with a sequel to it. For those of you who didn't read Demon Dance, I'd suggest you don't read this. Because if you didn't read Demon Dance you probably had an excellent reason... either that, or I told you not to. I hope that if you read this story, you'll like it. Timothy, from Demon Dance, is one of the main characters in this. And there's an enemy of course... but you'll have to see who it is. I know what some of you might be thinking "who is it?", but I'm sorry to say you'll have to wait and see. I do not own Sonic and co, or the Phantom ruler who will be referred to, he is owned by ShadowRuler55. The other characters are owned by me. If you have characters who could be used for enemy soldiers (whatever status), then please give me descriptions. I own the other characters who are obviously owned by SEGA or ShadR.**

"A son." The figure shook her head in disgust. "I don't _need_ a son. I need a daughter to carry on what I've started."

"But milady... he might be a useful fighter. Have one of your servants give him to someone's wife in the ranks, let them raise him. Then, he won't know you're his mother, and they won't tell him, they'll be too afraid." She considered, looking at the mysteriously quiet baby in her arms. She nodded curtly.

"Choose who you will out of my slaves to do it, now get out of my sight with this... abomination." And with those words following him, the man left the room with the woman's child in his arms. She sighed and leaned back in the bed, servants cleaning up after the birth. "Soon... soon I will have a girl... just how long will it take? How many unworthy sons must I bear?!" The servant girls kept their eyes averted but occasionally shot glances at each other from the safety of the screen of their hair. "And you three." They looked up. "If your heads are not shaved the next time I see you, you will go and work in the mines as well." The girls left the room and went to their slave rooms. Only then did they sink down into their straw beds and clutch their hair, sobs shaking their bodies.

***

"Too fast... for the naked eye. Sonic the Hedgehog (me!). Sonic (me!), he's got an attitude...!" Before the blue hedgehog could continue singing his praises, he was hit in the stomach by a black fist. Shadow rubbed his knuckles. "Did I injure you?" Asked the blue hedgehog, hoping as he stood up. Shadow shook his head.

"No, you're stomach was just thicker than I expected... do you keep your brains in there?" Sonic frowned in mock indignation.

"Shadow how dare you!" Shadow sighed wistfully.

"It was only a hope... pity your brain wasn't there. You might have suffered permanent brain damage, not that you haven't already." Rouge laughed.

"Come on Shadow stop provoking him! Come on in, Slade made a sour cherry pie with me, we want you to sample it!" Shadow sighed, pretending to be mournful.

"It's a good thing that I have a fast metabolism, otherwise, I would be getting fat from all the food tasting you've been having me do!" Dusk's head suddenly popped out of an upper window.

"Shadow could you help me out please? I think one of the chemicals in my science kit was mislabeled." A burst of orange smoke spilled out of the room and Shadow heard Tails coughing.

"Dusk are you alright up there? You haven't set anything on fire have you?" Grave's head popped out another window.

"No, but there's a smell like dead rats in his room." They heard the toilet flush and could only assume Tails had thrown up. The mansion was lovely and large, and quite obviously Shadow's. All the "intruders NOT welcome" signs, and the "beware of wolf" signs gave it an appearance that was almost cheerful... compared to some of Shadow's other works of "art". Darkness was snoozing in the living room by the fire, and Chaos was in the living room gently scratching behind the wolf's ears, which earned her growls of appreciation. Sonic sighed.

"Why does it seem like your house is the most chaotic? And why does it seem like all your siblings are constantly around?" Shadow frowned.

"They aren't, Nightmare, Swirl, Eternity and Moon are out right now."

"Doing what?"

"Beating Eggman."

"WHAT?! That's _my_ job!" Yelled Sonic. Rouge came out looking like she hadn't a care in the world.

"Oh relax blue, you need a break every now and again."

"But fighting Eggman is my break from everyday life!" Wailed Sonic. Shadow rolled his eyes.

"Please allow me to knock him out?" The blue hedgehog dodged out of punching range.

"Shadow, you know that if we're going to throw a birthday party for him he has to be present."

"Letting me beat Eggman would be a nice gift!" Called Sonic. Shadow and Rouge ignored that.

"I know Rouge... but why do _we_ have to throw the party?"

"It's our turn this year. Come on... the party will only go until ten o'clock." Shadow's expression showed that every second until ten would be torture. She laughed softly and kissed his cheek. "Come on you complainer, complain to the cherry pie we want you to sample!" Shadow chuckled and followed her inside. Dusk watched in interest.

"Hey Sonic, when are you going to have a girlfriend?" He asked. Sonic went red and just went inside. Grave laughed himself silly, almost falling out his window.

***

"Timothy!" He looked up.

"Yes Momma?" The phantom lady smiled at him, her pale silver hair cascading around her shoulders as she looked at him.

"It's time for dinner, come on, everyone else is waiting." He stood up and held the carving knife and small block of wood in one hand, and the phantom's hand in the other.

"What's for dinner today Momma?"

"What do you mean? We've been telling you for the past week." He smiled innocently.

"But I've forgotten Momma!"

"It's your birthday, there will be all your favorite foods and a nice big cake with chocolate and cherries... and some whipped cream. Just the way you like it." He laughed with childish delight at such things. He was thirteen, but obviously still like a child in most respects. He was almost as tall as the phantom. She sat him down, protesting, at the head of the table.

"But Momma! Daddy sits here! I can't!" She laughed, a tinkly, lovely sound.

"Daddy is a little busy tonight, he'll be here in time for cake and presents. He's trying to escape his vegetables I think. And he said that as the birthday boy you MUST sit here." Timothy looked around, he'd never had a birthday party before, they'd only arranged one this year because he'd asked what they were like, and if they were fun. So they'd decided to show him. There was even a pinata hanging from the ceiling. He smiled at the phantoms sitting around the table.

"Happy birthday Tommy!" They chorused.

"_Timothy_!" Said the phantom lady.

"Oops, happy birthday Timothy!" They said. Timothy laughed, they liked calling him Tommy when she wasn't around, and they had slipped. He ate the dinner with them, completely happy. The taste of the food seemed fresher than any he'd had before. The phantom women just smiled and told him they'd put extra love into the food. All of them loved Timothy, and were glad he lived with them. None of them cared that he was adopted. He was still part of the family. He'd asked what his real parents were like before, but the phantoms had had regretful looks as they told him they hardly remembered, though they said his father was a darkness shield. His imagination and carving skills were the greatest ones he knew about, he'd never searched for any others. He spent happy hours carving the characters in his imagination, and making small conversations for them to have for each other. The phantoms were delighted by this, they couldn't do much art other than drawing and painting, and appreciated the effort he put into the small carved figures. He carved lots of other things for them too, toys for the children, bowls for the women, cups for the men... all of them had something he'd made. When the cake came out he gasped. Four of the phantom women carried it, it was huge, with smooth, moist looking sides and juicy looking cherries. He burst out of his seat to hug everyone, to the amused laughter of all.

"This is the best birthday anyone ever had!" He pronounced. They smiled and continued the dinner.

***

"Your highness?"

"What?!" She asked, having a son had not left her in a good temper. The man looked nervous.

"We... we've found reports..."

"Get on with it man! Before I kill you!" He swallowed.

"We've found reports that your first son is alive." Her facial expression changed to excitement.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely positive milady." She mused then waved him aside and walked in from her balcony.

"Prepare an escort. I will see to this personally." She strode into her room, yelling for her servant girls, who were now bald, and weeped about the loss of their shining hair. The lady smirked as she looked at them. "Do you want your hair back?" They looked at her hopefully, the lady had many powers... maybe she could give their hair back. They ignored the fact that the lady was the one who had made them shave in the first place. They nodded. "Then this is what I want you to do." She outlined her plan as one of the girls got her dressed in a beautiful embroidered robe. They nodded. "Get me my first female child, she's weak and doesn't care for power, but she'll have to come back into my affections until I get another girl. Do you understand your instructions?" They nodded quickly, they wanted their hair. The lady smiled. "Then when you come back to me with my daughter, I want you to go into the torture room... I'm not going to torture you you idiot girls! I'll give your hair back." They looked relieved and dashed from the room to do her bidding. She looked at herself in the mirror and smirked. "They are such fools. Such ignorant fools."

**I named this story Mirror of Malice because, sadly, no title suggestions came my way. :'( I'm hurt. XD Just joking. Though it WOULD have been nice if I'd gotten some title suggestions. And you'll get why I named it this later... and if you haven't guessed who "milady" is yet, then oh boy..... X'D I will be laughing so hard i start crying. I was painfully obvious here, but so what? XD Anyhow, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please R&R and sorry for the long author notes. :P If you have ideas for the next chappie, let me know! ^_^**


	2. Chapter 2

Shadow was frowning, the party had gone fine, and he'd escaped an hour early, so that was an unexpected bonus. But something wasn't right... he could just tell. He silently slipped to the front door and went out, and found himself face to face with Darkness, who enthusiastically licked his face until Shadow pushed him off. "So much for 'beware of wolf'." He mumbled as the wolf followed him into the street. I should put 'beware of licking wolves'." Then he noticed that suddenly, on the other side of the street, what had been a neighbors fence was the shop. He groaned, why had it relocated? He nevertheless went over and inside. There was no one at the counter, but that was expected. The old fox who had been there before had died the first day Shadow met him. Darkness went to the back room door and pushed it with his forehead, whining at Shadow. Shadow smiled. "Yeah yeah yeah okay. I'll open it already... just stop whining." Darkness did, he started wagging his tail instead.

"You, are officially hopeless." Laughed Shadow. Darkness seemed to grin. But maybe that was an illusion. He opened the door and stepped into the portal, smiling as he remembered how he'd first gone through.

Once he was in the Dark realm, he cloaked himself in invisibility, Darkness growled when Shadow told him to stay, but the black hedgehog insisted so Darkness lay down to wait. The black hedgehog walked along the seemingly unchanging terrain until he came to a hole in the ground, the hole he'd fallen into when he escaped Rose. Around it there was some tunnels, the phantoms had extended their network, that was good. A child that sat in front of one of the tunnels interested him the most though, he was surrounded by phantoms. He stepped closer until he was able to see over the phantom children. "Let us see Tommy! Let us see!"

"You know Momma is watching right?" The younger hedgehog whispered.

"Oops. Let us see Timothy! Please?" Shadow looked at his son, sure he hadn't willingly got together with Rose, but still... it wasn't Timothy's fault his mother was a sadistic person. Shadow looked at the small carvings around Timothy, then at his son's face. Was this what his son did? He could only assume the phantoms hadn't taught Timothy anything about fighting, wanting to protect him as he'd ordered. He sighed quietly, none of them heard. He watched Timothy carve a small statuette of one of the phantoms before handing it to the female phantom child. She giggled and blushed, before taking it in her hands and feeling it.

"It's a great carving Timothy!"

"It's for you."

"Oh! Thank you." He just smiled and started another one. Shadow looked at his son, thinking how much he reminded him of himself... except the smiling. He hadn't smiled that much. He walked away to make sure that the much deeper and longer sigh he gave this time wasn't heard. Timothy was innocent, that was good for him. Very good for him.

***

"So Shadow... what did you do with your day?"

"I visited Timothy." He said, shrugging. Rouge smiled.

"What I don't get is why you don't bring him here, he'll be safer." Shadow shrugged again.

"I don't know... I just feel like he has to stay there for awhile." Rouge looked at Shadow with some worry.

"Shadow, we know that you still have some enemies in that realm, and storm clouds have literally been brewing on your horizon there. Every single person in that realm knows Timothy is your son."

"Timothy doesn't." Rouge gaped at Shadow.

"WHAT?!" Shadow winced.

"Rouge, don't..."

"Don't tell me what to do! That could be potentially dangerous to you!"

"It's not like the kid has any powers!" Said Shadow, trying to get out of the argument.

"And how do you know? Has he been tested?"

"I can't feel any chaos energy from him, and he hasn't been tested." Rouge frowned, not a normal expression on her face.

"Shadow, he might not have chaos powers."

"What other powers could he possibly have?" Rouge sighed.

"I don't know, but he might have other powers you can't detect." A flicker of annoyance went over Shadow's face, he prided himself on his ability to detect the powers of others.

"There isn't a power I can't identify." He said stubbornly. Rouge looked at him.

"What if it's one you've never encountered before? One you can't detect?" Shadow sighed.

"Rouge, we'll have to agree to disagree on this point. You can't stress yourself out."

"And why not?" She demanded. Shadow pointed to her stomach. She rubbed it.

"You are going to have a baby, Rouge, and you are NOT going to stress yourself out just because of me." Rouge shook her head and laughed.

"Alright alright... I agree to disagree then."

"Good." Shadow smiled and kissed her cheek, then headed up the stairs to his office, Darkness was searching for any hidden bones in the front yard.

***

"That's the boy?" She asked, uncertainty on her face.

"Yes milady."

"Stop calling me milady... when he's around, you'll have to call me Your Highness or Queen Rose!" The man flinched, expecting to be slapped. But the expected slap didn't come. He looked at her timidly. "Just don't forget. He can't know what we're truly striving for unless we can mold him into a cold blooded killer. If it doesn't work... we either execute him or send him to work with the slaves. And you know where he goes if we execute him."

"Yes mila.... Your Highness." He bowed and she smirked.

"Good, Petunia mustn't see those things.... if she does, she won't trust me, and I can't have that."

"But Your Highness, Petunia might be able to get you an heir with..."

"With you, no. She won't have a lowly person from the ranks as the father of her children. Shadow's and my son should do. After all, what better revenge? I can take their children and raise them to continue my empire." The man bowed and looked at his queen. She was terribly beautiful, and mystically so, in her long blue robes with embroidered brown trees. The thread for the trees was made of some slave girl's hair. She walked forward, Timothy was alone. Good, the phantoms wouldn't be able to notice to interfere. There was one child phantom, but she couldn't interfere if she wanted to, and she was frozen with terror anyway. How unfortunate that Rose couldn't kill her... but she had to impress her son. She walked forward with her arms outstretched, a smile stretching across her face. "Timothy! Oh my son you don't know how long I've searched for you!" Timothy looked up from what he was doing, carving? Inwardly she seethed, the phantoms had taught him a useless art, but it might make him handy with a knife. He looked surprised to see her.

"You're not my Mom..." He said. She frowned.

"But I am your mother Timothy, have they told you I look different?" He looked uneasy now.

"Well... I... they haven't." He confessed. She smiled, a sorrowful, wise, loving look.

"I am your mother Timothy, I could tell you about your father if you wanted."

"My father the darkness shield?" He asked eagerly. She smiled and nodded, though inwardly she was disgusted, she'd have to get rid of his liking for heroics. "What did he look like? What was his name?" Rose spun the tale as if she hadn't been the villain in it, and his father had. Timothy's face got more and more shocked. Rose didn't feel sorry at all for ruining this innocent child's vision of his father. She didn't care if Shadow was the villain in her story, when in truth she had been. All she cared about was getting this kid on her side so she could train him to assassinate Shadow... "But... my Dad couldn't have been THAT bad could he?" She saw a golden opportunity and took it, she had left Shadow nameless and without a description, so she fed more lies to Timothy easily.

"Well no he wasn't darling, he was hypnotized, you're almost his exact image..." She pretended to get choked up by tears, while in reality she was trying hard not to laugh. The little fool believed her. He came over and patted her back. "... But, he... he was killed."

"WHAT?!" Rose looked at Timothy's shocked and angry face. She nodded. "But... but... who would do such a thing?!" He asked. The phantom girl was frozen in place, invisible, listening to all these lies, and struggling to not believe them, Rose's power made her think that Rose was telling the truth, and Shadow had deceived everyone. But he hadn't, she was quite sure of this.

"The man's name is Shadow I believe... he has a wife now, and she's going to have a child." Timothy's eyes softened slightly. "Son... would you avenge your father? None of my men have been able to get him, and I wouldn't stand a chance against him. I believe that he's your father's brother." Timothy's face changed to shocked horror.

"Mother?"

"Yes Timothy?"

"Would you... would you teach me to fight so I can avenge him?" He asked cautiously. His eyes were an icy, crystaline blue. She nodded.

"What are your strengths Tommy?"

"Well... I'm pretty good at carving." He offered.

"Anything else?" He shook his head. "Well I'll teach you to wield knives, it might help you... or rather, my guards will. I have a kingdom to run."

"A _what_?" He asked, astonished.

"A kingdom." She repeated.

"Then you're a..."

"Queen Rose, an urgent matter has come up." Good, her men had staged the interruption at just the right time.

"Come Timothy dear, I'll show you the kingdom that you are a prince of!"

"But... I've got to say good bye...."

"We'll send them a letter dear, don't worry. Princess's letters get places really fast." He nodded and picked up his carving knife, put it in the sheath on his leg one of the phantoms had made him, and followed Rose and her men away.

The phantom girl broke free minutes later and ran, crying, to the other phantoms and told them what had happened. Their eyes widened at the mention of Rose's name and appearance. "She's back..." They whispered in their echoing voices. They looked at each other in fear. "One of us must go find the Darkness Shield."

"I'll go." A young boy phantom rose. They nodded.

"Hurry young one, we're depending on you." He nodded and sped out of sight.

***

Shadow was leaning back at his desk, looking at the latest mission report. He was in charge of reading them all, only Shadow seemed to be able to detect when a soldier was lying in the reports. Suddenly he felt as if someone had touched his arm with ice. He jumped and spun around. A phantom boy cowered away. Shadow's eyes softened. "What brings you here little one?" He had no idea why, but the phantoms insisted that their young were called "little ones", and unless they were being addressed by name, they must be called "little one".

"We need you in the Dark realm... urgently!" He said, slightly out of breath. Shadow looked concerned.

"What happened this time?"

"Timothy was kidnapped!"

"WHAT?!" Roared Shadow. "BY WHO?!" The phantom boy wasn't cowering now, he was standing (or rather, floating) tall and straight.

"Rose sir!" Silence fell like a deathly chill. Shadow was silent, shock filled him completely.

"Rose?" Rouge stood in the door, looking horrified, she held onto her stomach. Shadow nodded haltingly. "And... she's kidnapped Timothy?" Shadow nodded again, one of the things he liked about Rouge was that in emergencies, she wouldn't take the time to say "I told you so". She pulled out a cell phone.

"Please tell me you aren't ordering an armed tank for me to use." Groaned Shadow, thinking of Rouge's many calls to nearby malls recently.

"I'm not, I'm calling Sonic and the others, young boy, would you wake all the others in the house up?" The boy sped off obediently to do as she'd asked. Shadow headed for the door, but Rouge blocked him.

"Why won't you let me pass?" He asked. Rouge looked at him.

"You need help this time Shadow, I'm serious. If Rose is back again... it's not good news."

**TIMOTHY IS KIDNAPPED?! OH NOEZ! *hides* And how dare Rose do such evil things...... making Shadow seem like the villain! I want to give her a MOST painful death.... even worse than the one in Demon Dance. But.... it would ruin the story if I did that now. *sighs regretfully***


	3. Chapter 3

Shadow sighed in frustration. "I know it's not good news! That doesn't change the fact that she's abducted my son!" Rouge looked at him. "I know you were right about bringing him here instead, I know! But... I can't just leave him in her clutches!"

"How do you know she hasn't figured out a way to get him to want to kill you?" Asked Rouge. Shadow froze and blinked, horrified.

"Why would she do that?"

"Revenge." Before Shadow could reply to that, his siblings burst into the room with the phantom and Darkness following them.

"This kid says Rose kidnapped Timmy!" Said Dusk.

"Tommy." Said the phantom.

"Timothy." Said Rouge. Shadow chuckled. "What's so funny?" Asked Rouge curiously.

"Nothing." Dusk looked at Shadow curiously. The black and red hedgehog who was his older brother was so strange... sometimes he seemed heartless, cold and indifferent, but other times he showed a soft side, was protective, and quite loving and caring. Dusk would never understand the Ultimate Life Form.

"So... are we going to find out about what Rose is doing yet?"

"Yes." Said Shadow, looking at Rouge, who he could tell had something to say.

"First of all, I don't think it would be a good idea for Shadow himself to go investigate, because Rose might have made Timothy want to kill Shadow through some trick or other. Second, I think that Dusk should go. The reasons for this are because he's changed the most and if you haven't seen him for the last thirteen years, you wouldn't recognize him unless he told you who he is. So his name will have to be something else when he goes to the dark realm."

"How about Dare? It's the name that other Shadow used when he was here for the first two weeks." Suggested Grave.

"Excellent, Dare he shall be."

"And it starts with a D too so it's perfect!" Crowed Dusk, a.k.a. Dare. Shadow sat down, sighing, as he looked at his youngest sibling.

"You'll be careful won't you Dusk?" Dusk grinned at him.

"Absolutely, you've all taught me to fight a lot better in the past thirteen years so I should be fine." Chaos looked at him, worried, just like Shadow.

"I know that... but it doesn't matter how many fighting skills you have when around someone like Rose..."

"So Amy's doppelgänger is back?" Sonic stepped into the study with Amy, Knuckles, Tails, and Shade the Echidna behind him.

"Yes." Said Shadow, frowning. Amy looked concerned.

"But... Phantom killed her last time we saw her.... how could she have survived something like that?"

"She couldn't have." Piped up the phantom. "She's probably come back on a different spirit level, but still a physical one."

"Which one would you say?" Asked Slade.

"I'd say, from Mila's description, a haunt."

"A haunt?"

"Yeah, something sorta like a vampire, but they don't require blood to live. It's just something they have to take every few months." Said the phantom, smiling, his face so innocent... Shadow was once again hit by the realization that if he had just listened to Rouge and brought Timothy to their world Rose wouldn't have been able to get him, and Timothy would still be innocent.

***

Rose sat making up nonsense about ruling the kingdom for Timothy, who didn't know it was lies as he listened, fascinated. _He's such a little fool... I'd never be this gullible! Where the guards right? Is this really Timothy? My first son? _"But Mom, I want to hear more about the wars you've had!" He said. Rose could have smirked, of course he wanted to hear more about fighting now, he wanted to learn to fight to "avenge" his father. How sweetly pathetic.... that cursed love of heroics... she once again vowed to stamp it out. She started telling him about make-believe battles in gory detail, his eyes were wide with horror and fascination as he listened to her tales. The landscape outside hardly changed, but if Rose had been paying attention, she would have seen certain physical representations of the scenes she was describing to Timothy, a new power was starting to stir within him. One that had disappeared for so long that it had been forgotten and any books that mentioned it had crumbled to dust.

When they reached Rose's castle, she helped Timothy out of the carriage, they would have gone straight into the castle if Timothy hadn't stopped to pet the horses and ask if they were being fed enough. Mentally cursing, Rose kept up her illusion of generosity by ordering that the horses be fed more and cared for better, she'd been quite a penny-pincher, and if she couldn't steal the food her realm needed, she'd buy as little as possible. Now she'd have to buy more so Timothy wouldn't get worried and start to question the stories she'd told him about a nice, prosperous realm. She would have to keep him away from the mines at all costs.

She led him inside the huge red castle, the sky was blocked by a red mist, Timothy asked where it came from, and Rose said she didn't know. If Shadow had seen the look in her eyes as she said it, he would have known instantly that she was lying and did know where it came from. She escorted Timothy through the long, silent and dark halls. They were warm, strangely so, seeing as it was so cold outside. Timothy's fur was thick to deal with the cold, which he had dealt with from birth. He looked around himself curiously, looking at the strange symbols done in iron work, paintings of things that might have been angels or demons, but he stopped in front of one picture in particular. "Mother, what's this a painting of?" She stopped and came back to him. The painting depicted demons dancing around in a circle, with pained looks on their faces, a mirror reflected the image back, but the vision was distorted, and a beam of darkness from the mirror was stretched out and touching each demon in the dancing circle.

"Ah, that's the demon dance, a mythical thing. It was supposed to have been something the demons did to find the strongest among them. Those who uttered no cries of pain became the next leaders, those who did scream died at the hands of those they used to rule. If real, it would have been quite a cruel custom."

"But _why_ did they scream?" Asked Timothy.

"The mirror, it's called the Mirror of Malice. It only feels anger and hate, and so it would cause those who it touched with it's darkness to feel pain, all except one, who could not be touched by these powers."

"Who was that? The Darkness Shield?"

"There was no Darkness Shield at that time Timothy, but there was a protector..... they could use the power of galaxies..." Her eyes shone. "What that power was called has been lost, but I have my hunches as to what it was..."

"What are your hunches Mom?" Asked Timothy as they continued walking down the corridor again. She smiled at him.

"I'll tell you some other time Timothy."

"Okay." When she stopped in front of a door and told him it was his room, he hugged her. "Thanks Mom." He whispered before dashing in to check it out. She smirked before swishing off to do something else. The room was large, it could have fit two mansions back to back within it's walls. There was a king sized bed close to the door. "Oh wow..." The black and white hedgehog gasped as he looked around, there was a mirror in a corner, covered in dust... the only thing covered in the fuzzy gray substance. "The Mirror of Malice?" He wondered, reaching out a hand. Before he could touch the glass however, an image of a hedgehog swirled into existence. The hedgehog had dark purple fur mostly. But from the tips of his spikes, fingers, his wrists, his ankles, and his tail, it looked like he was made of crystal. Even part of his eyebrows looked like they were made from ice crystals! The whites of his eyes were pure red, and his eyes were a neon green, his pupils were slits. He had some silvery highlights on his thighs and sides, and his chest fur was silvery too. His muzzle was a pale ashen gray, and he had no nose or mouth. "Wh.. who are you?" Asked Timothy, intrigued.

"I am Mephiles the Dark... who are you? No one else who has come before the mirror has been able to see me since Rose." Mephiles looked out of the mirror at Timothy.

"I'm Timothy! Rose is my Mom."

"And your father is who?"

"I... I'm not sure." Admitted Timothy. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Your Highness?" Called a voice.

"Come in! And don't call me Your Highness!" A man came in, dressed in a black jumpsuit. He bowed, holding a tray in his hands.

"Queen Rose said that you might be hungry." He placed the tray on a pinewood table. "What are you doing?" The servant asked curiously, coming over to Timothy and looking at the mirror.

"Talking to Mephiles." Said Timothy, gesturing at the mirror.

"Oh, well her Majesty says that this mirror is to be left alone, she says she sealed a demon in it... in fact, that is one of the reasons she is our queen." When the servant was gone Mephiles started laughing.

"Are you a demon?" Asked Timothy, smiling innocently.

"Of course not!" Scoffed Mephiles. "Those ignorant fools think I am... of course, Rose knew otherwise, but I was rather dangerous when she first met me." Mephiles admitted.

"Why was that?"

"Well... I thought that the world owed me a lot and I had to take revenge on it... so I did a lot of killing." Mephiles looked sheepish. "I'm not really happy about that, Rose forgave me, but she had to lock me in the mirror just in case I went on a rampage again, unintentionally."

"My Mom is great huh?" Mephiles nodded, he would have frowned if he had a mouth, because he knew Rose was as far from great as you could possibly get.... but the boy could see him, he wasn't going to tell him that and ruin his ideas of the world and it's people... he sighed quietly as Timothy chattered about his ride to the castle. The world was a damned place as far as Mephiles was concerned, it only existed so people could learn the meaning of pain and loss. But then why did he feel hope when he looked at Timothy? He noticed the symbol on Timothy's head and instantly realized who the boy's father was... but he did not say.

Rose walked into the torture room, one of the many she had, but this one was the worst, and the only one in the castle, on sublevel 4. The girls stood there, shivering as they watched the men, who were leering at them. Rose carried a basket under one arm. "Your Highness." The girls bowed as one. Rose smirked over their heads.

"Stand up straight." They did. She tossed the basket at their feet, their hair lay in forlorn piles.

"What...?" Rose interrupted them and gestured towards the girls.

"You can do whatever you want with them now, just make sure they're dead when they leave this room." The girls cried out as the men advanced on them, looks of lust on their faces.

"M... Milady! You... you promised not to torture us! Have mercy!" One of the girls was grabbed as Rose turned, smiling innocently.

"Oh but I'm not torturing you." She said as one of the girls started screaming and one of the men pushed against her body. "So I have kept my promise." She swept out of the room as the girls backed away, pleading and sobbing hysterically as the men cooed and called to them.

"Come on lovelies... spend some quality time with old Grishner!" Was what Rose heard before the doors closed behind her. She smiled to herself.

"And to think I once did that to Shadow... ah, such lovely memories. He didn't scream or cry though, I'll give him that much. Weaklings." She spat as she heard some screaming through the door. "Better off dead." And she started climbing the spiral stairs to ground level to check on Petunia.

A young red hedgehog stared out her window, smiling slightly. The world was a beautiful place, and life was even more beautiful. She twitched slightly as she sensed a death somewhere near, but it was small, so that meant it was an insect or rodent. She sighed. "At least Mother is starting to fix the kingdom instead of keeping it a miserable place." Her new personal guard, Aleixo, stood just behind her. He kept silent as he listened to her. He was mute, someone had slashed his vocal cords when he was little so that he would never talk. "Aleixo?" She suddenly turned to him. He inclined his head, a questioning look on his face. "Have you ever wondered... ever wondered what we're supposed to discover in life?" He looked surprised and shook his head, the next look he gave her was one of askance. "What do I think about what we're supposed to discover?" She guessed. He nodded. "Well..." She said slowly. "I think we're supposed to discover friendship, love, and family. And we're supposed to have hope at all times." Aleixo looked quite surprised by this. The gray furred hedgehog had sapphire blue eyes, and quite a few scars. His hands were a creamy yellow colour though, and he had some pale pink highlights. The other guards teased him for being girly because of that, but he never rose to the bait and attacked them. He would always smile and take it.

"You're my special friend Aleixo... I never want to lose you." She hugged him. He blinked in surprise, then cautiously hugged her back.

"Am I interrupting something?" Aleixo sprang back from Petunia and to attention, standing ramrod straight and not even quivering or blinking. "At ease." Said Rose, amused. "So... was I interrupting something?" She asked, looking at Petunia.

"No, I was just telling Aleixo he's my best friend." Petunia missed the sharp look Rose sent at Aleixo.

"I see." She said in the same slightly amused tone, disguising her real emotions about this.

"Yeah... what did you want Mother?"

"I was wondering if you would like to meet the child of a friend of mine, he's adopted but please don't tell him that, he'll get upset." It was Alexio's turn to do a sharp look, but at Rose. He knew that the queen's first son had been brought to the palace today, not an adopted child. But he couldn't say anything about this of course.

"So you'd like me to pretend I'm adopted to make him feel better?" Asked Petunia, more than willing to do this.

"Yes." Said Rose, smiling.

More knocking, and just as Mephiles was showing him how to do a weird move he really wanted to get right... Mephiles said that in combat it dealt a lot of damage, otherwise, it was great for showing off. "Come in!" Called Timothy after straightening, Mephiles ran out the side of the mirror edge, he was in a world that was locked within the mirror, and it held only him. Rose walked in with Petunia, her golden eyes sparkling, and Alexio, who's sapphire eyes were narrowed suspiciously. Rose walked over and hugged Timothy.

"Have you been having fun Timothy?"

"Yeah Mom!"

"Did you have anything to eat?" She asked, glancing at the untouched tray of food.

"No not yet, I was busy exploring the room." Said Timothy, smiling around. Rose smiled at him.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it, but please have something to eat, to set my mind at ease." Timothy agreed and sat down, quietly nibbling on some strawberries while Rose introduced him to his half-sister, but calling her his sister by adoption. Petunia smiled at him happily. Alexio merely inclined his head to Timothy.

"Can't you speak?" Timothy asked Alexio curiously. The gray hedgehog shook his head. "Why not?" Asked Timothy.

"He's mute." Said Rose.

"Oh." Said Timothy, thinking about this. "I'm supposed to be good at making or fixing things, though it's usually only been woodwork... would you like me to try and fix your voice?" Alexio, now looking interested, nodded. Petunia clapped her hands delightedly.

"We'll have plenty of fun won't we?" She asked, smiling at Timothy, who smiled in return. A guard walked in and bowed low after shooting a sneer at Alexio, who simply smiled at that.

"Your Majesty, there is a hedgehog who claims his name is Dare, he would like to see the Prince." Rose raised her eyebrows, astonished by this news.

"Would you like to see him Timothy? Alexio will protect you if he's an assassin."

"Sure Mom!" Said Timothy, unfazed by the fact that the visitor might be an assassin. Soon, a black hedgehog with really dark purple highlights and bright purple eyes skipped in. He grinned when he saw Timothy and rushed over, hugging him. Alexio was so surprised he froze in place.

"Oooooohh your lordship Timothy! I heard that you'd come but I had no idea if it was for real! WHERE WERE YOU ALL THESE YEARS?!" He said, talking so fast he was almost unintelligible.

"Well..... I was with some phantoms. What's your name? You already know mine." Dare stood back and dramatically bowed.

"I am Dare your absolute lordship.... 'ello your Majesty." He said, bowing to Rose, who smiled slightly. "And who's this pretty young lady?"

"I'm Timothy's sister Petunia." Said Petunia, smiling. Dare promptly hugged her too.

"Well you look wonderful today! And who's your bodyguard?" He asked, grinning at Alexio, who was giving him a suspicious look.

"Alexio, he's mute." Dare gave a gasp of horror.

"Mute! That must be fixed somehow! I feel sorry for you buddy!" He hugged Alexio, who made a small grunting noise of surprise. "You made a noise! Good job Alexio old boy, but it must be recognizable English." He turned back to Rose and bowed again. "Your Majesty, would you give me permission to be a friend of Timothy and Petunia's? I'll occasionally have to go check up on my family and all that, but I'll be here as much as I possibly can!" His speech had slowed down now that he was calmer. Rose grinned.

"Of course you may!" She said, knowing that if she did not like something he did, she could get away with making him simply disappear.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you your Majesty!" He bowed even lower.

"Why didn't you hug her?" Asked Petunia when Rose was gone.

"I thought she might not like that." Said Dare, plonking down beside Timothy and popping a grape into his mouth. He paused after picking up another. "These are pretty good... I wonder what kind?" He popped that one into his mouth too. Petunia sat down and looked at Dare.

"What's your family like?" Shadow had worked this story out with Dusk already, so he was prepared.

"Well... I've only got a few siblings but they're great." He started listing names and subtly changed stories about their escapades with science experiments. "Suzan thought it smelt like dead rats were in the room... personally, I smelled mint."

"Why mint I wonder?" Said Petunia, looking thoughtful. Dusk grinned.

"I don't like mint, she doesn't like dead rats. Simple. Duel smelled perfume." Petunia burst out laughing while Timothy looked puzzled.

"Why doesn't he like perfume? It smells nice."

"Phantom perfume does, most non-phantom perfumes don't smell good..... why? Because the girls who put it on put on way too much." Petunia grinned.

"I'm glad I get phantom perfume then." She said.

***

Shadow paced in his study, ignoring the repeated e-mails that he was alerted about by messages quickly flashing across the screen. Rouge was in the kitchen, making breakfast. Her brow was furrowed in worry, she had not seen Timothy as often as Shadow had, in fact, the last time she had seen her step-son (she regarded him as her son no matter what) was when he was being given to the phantoms for looking after. The batter for the pancakes became more like liquid than it was supposed to be as she continued to beat it hard with the whisk, thinking of what she might be able to do to help save Timothy from Rose. "Rouge! The batter!" Called Slade, alarmed. Rouge looked down and stopped abruptly.

"Thanks Slade, I hadn't noticed..." She said, pulling out the pan and putting some oil in it. Slade looked worried now too.

"Rouge, don't worry, he'll be alright. Dusk will make sure of it..."

"If Rose doesn't figure out who he is and tries to murder him." Said Rouge, fretting as she watched the batter which now sat in the pan as the aforementioned cooking instrument heated up.

"She won't Rouge, trust me. Moon has learned some sorts of magic and he gave Dusk a cloaking one, it'll protect his identity. If he tells someone and they try to betray him, it won't work. If they were to try and say to Rose that he was Dusk, the person she had last seen years ago, it would come out as "Rose! Dare is actually someone named Dare! Who you last saw a week ago!" or something like that, depending on when she saw him last." Rouge smiled slightly at that, but still looked worried. "Look.... just tell me what's bothering you, at the moment I'm the oldest and I can help you." Rouge sighed.

"I'm worried about Timothy still... but, it's more than the rest of you think."

"Not just his safety?"

"No, his mind as well... because, you see, well..."

"Say it Rouge, I won't get mad, laugh, or in any way act like I don't believe you." Said Slade calmly. Rouge took a deep breath, flipping the pancakes over.

"I _know_ he has powers, with Shadow and Rose being his parents he has to have them, but... Shadow can't detect any powers in him, and insists he must have none in that case. But I know he does, I don't know how though, but he does. And when Rose finds out she'll do everything possible to break him and make him hers, because... this power would either be new, or an ancient one that has not been seen before, and... and she'll probably try to have someone take advantage of him." Rouge finished in a whisper. "I'm so scared that she'll do something to him that can't be fixed, ever." Slade looked surprised.

"Rouge, did you ever think you might be psychic?"

"No, and I'm not." Said Rouge, flipping the pancakes out of the pan and onto a plate before putting some more batter in the pan.

"Well, all I have to say about this is, we have no way of knowing what will happen, if something irrevocable does happen to Timothy that is not good for him, we can just go back in time and change it, Silver would help us out for sure." Slade's expression got warmer as she mentioned Silver.

"Slade, I know you want to see your...."

"Keep it down!" Hissed Slade, glancing over her shoulder.

"Alright then." Whispered Rouge. "I know you want to see your crush again, but still... come on! Can't you just admit your feelings to him?"

"I know... it's just that I feel like he likes Blaze and I don't want him feeling guilty." Sighed Slade. The boys caught Slade's last sentence and whistled. Slade whirled around as they started singing "Accidentally In Love". "CHAOS!!!!" She yelled, darting into the living room.

***

Timothy looked around, wonder on his face. "This place is so huge..." He said, the room in front of him was even larger than his own bedroom, which was saying a lot. Practice courts stretched on seemingly endlessly, Rose's guards (who weren't on duty) sparring in every one. Rose picked up a wooden sword and tossed it to him.

"Yes it is Timothy." He caught the stick. "First I will teach you to fight with the sword, in case you are stuck somewhere with no other weapons around, and besides, those are the ones we usually use here." Timothy swung the stick around a bit, then his eyes narrowed slightly, zooming in on one target. Before Rose could pick up a stick of her own to use to teach him, she watched with astonishment as the target seemingly broke into ten pieces all on it's own. Timothy smiled in wonder at the stick.

"Mom, I... I did that!" He looked at her with astonished delight. Rose smiled back at him, her thoughts not revolving the way his were.

"Yes you did Timothy, I'm so proud of you... why don't you practice against me though?"

"Are you sure I won't hurt you?" He asked anxiously.

"Timothy. You're learning to fight so you can hurt someone, I'll be fine." Timothy nodded.

"Alright."

***

Petunia watched from the entrance to the training hall. She cheered for Timothy as Alexio stood beside her, watching with a slightly impressed look. Timothy was fast, he could easily block and counter Rose's every move, whether or not it was a real one. Dusk's eyes were wide as he watched. _And Shadow said that Timothy couldn't have any powers did he? I'll have to tell him about this... _thought Timothy. "Isn't my brother good?" Asked Petunia, delight on her face.

"Absolutely!" Said Dusk, grinning. "But then, he would be, seeing as his mother is such a great fighter herself, and his sister is so beautiful." Petunia giggled.

"I don't see how me being beautiful would help him fight well.

"I don't either, but it must be one of the reasons." Said Dusk. Petunia laughed.

"Oh come on you charmer." Timothy's stick disarmed Rose. He paused, stick right at her neck, smiling nervously.

"Is that good Mom?" Rose's eyes shone.

"It's fantastic Timothy. Bravo." She started clapping, the other guards started clapping too, as did the three in the doorway.

"Good going Timothy!" Called Dusk.

"You were awesome!" Called Petunia. Timothy flushed, embarrassed by the praises.

**So... Timothy can naturally handle any weapon can he? Sounds like Shadow... I wonder what will happen to them now? Because Rose is definitely planning something sinister. But that is obvious! :D Toon in next time for the next chappie of Mirror of Malice! ^^**


	4. Chapter 4

Shadow's frowning red eyes read through reports so fast that almost as soon as they were up they were being clicked off. Rouge stood in the doorway, watching him. "Shadow?" He jumped and the chair spun so he faced her. He relaxed.

"Rouge."

"It's dinner time." She said.

"Hmm." He stood and half turned, looking at the computer screen as if it had the answers to his current problem. Rouge came over to him and wrapped her arms around him, her chin rested on his shoulder.

"Shadow, Dusk should be back soon. And Grave is helping the phantoms out, apparently they got a phantom rodent infestation." Shadow smiled at that. Suddenly, Dusk barged in.

"Hey there!" Then he stopped. "Uh... am I interrupting something?"

"No not at all." Said Rouge, stepping back from Shadow. Her dark husband turned to his sibling.

"So, what's going on over there Dusk?"

"Lots of stuff!" Said Dusk, looking very excited. "But first... dinner!" He zoomed out of the room and down the stairs. Shadow rolled his eyes as his wife laughed. They went downstairs as well.

***

"Well Timothy, I don't actually have to teach you anything. You can naturally use any weapon you're given." Timothy looked a little concerned.

"Is that a good thing?"

"Definitely!" She said. "Now let's see... can you use chaos energy?"

"What's that?" Rose sighed inwardly, then explained it to him patiently. "Oh, I don't know."

"Let's see if you can, focus on sending energy to your palm, and then say 'chaos spear'." Timothy smiled.

"Oh okay! I think I get it." He did, Rose was shocked when a ball of dark red like appeared at the palm of Timothy's hand. He aimed it at the target. "Chaos spear!" The target disintegrated as soon as it was hit. Rose clapped, she was impressed. This child was powerful! And yet... this didn't seem like it was his main power, it was as if there was something more.

She smiled at him. "Good job Timothy! I think it should be time for bed now."

"Is Dare still here?"

"No, he went home to his siblings." She said, not knowing how true that was.

"Oh, will he be coming again tomorrow?"

"Yes, he said he would." Petunia was waiting outside with Alexio. The gray hedgehog bowed stiffly, and Petunia hugged Timothy.

"You were amazing!" She said. "I've never been able to do anything like that!"

"I could never do anything like that either before now!" Said Timothy. The two of them started chatting and they headed to the dining hall, Alexio escorted them. Rose slipped away.

***

Bodies, bloody corpses just piled bellow the grates that Rose and her captain, Grishner. "There are more than there were last time." She said, eyeing a few new dead faces.

"Yes milady, a few mine slaves rebelled. I'm almost glad they did, we were running out of the red mist their blood makes for the kingdom." Rose smirked, then frowned.

"Why are there soldiers in there?"

"We lost only four when the slaves rebelled." Rose nodded.

"I see." The blood mist had been her idea, there was another grate that the bodies were piled on, the blood went through it, and went through a special little machine she had devised that changed the blood so it became like mist that was sent floating out over the whole kingdom. The skies above were blue, but the mist made them look red. "Grishner."

"Yes milady?"

"Are the slave girls in there?"

"Yes milady." He said, smirking. "They spent around two hours in the torture rooms."

"Good. I heard them screaming before I left to check on Timothy."

"Yes milady." He started wondering where the conversation was going.

"Do you agree that they were weaklings?"

"Absolutely milady!"

"Hmm." She was quiet for a moment, the only sound was the clanging of Rose's shoes and her guard's boots on the grates. She stopped. "Grishner."

"Yes milady?"

"Do you believe in the afterlife?"

"I'm not sure milady."

"I see. Well you'll just have to find out then won't you?" Before he could react, she whipped his sword out of it's sheath and ran him through. He gasped, then his eyes became glassy and he fell down. "You thought I wouldn't know that you took the best sword of that last place we conquered didn't you? Poor, idiotic Grishner." She signaled to some guards, they came over wordlessly and lifted part of the grate, then pushed Grishner through. "You, what's your name?"

The guard swallowed. "I am Iznal." Rose nodded, circling around him, the sword hanging from her hand, blood still dripping down it's length. She raised it, he almost flinched. Rose cleaned the blade on the fabric of his uniform. It looked like someone had slashed him across the chest almost.

"You are my new captain." She used one of her nails to tear a star symbol on the shoulder of his uniform. "Be a good captain, or you'll be joining Grishner quite soon." She walked off, the now clean blade flashing in the dull lights.

***

"Timothy's a nice boy." Said Dusk, grinning as he finished some of the cherry pie that they had for dessert.

"Did you find out what sorts of things Rose has said to Timothy?"

"Oh yes." Said Dusk, smiling. "And guess what? Mephiles isn't dead!" Shadow's eyes widened.

"What?!"

"Yup, she's got him sealed into a mirror that's in Timothy's room. He was showing Timothy a fighting move earlier today, he said it could also be used to show off. And guess what the weird thing is, he wouldn't tell me how to do it!"

"You show off enough already." Muttered Grave, who had come back earlier. Dusk grinned at him.

"Whatever Grave, you show off more than I do!"

"No I do not!" Shadow growled, and the two fell silent.

"What sorts of things has Rose said to Timothy?"

"Was it hard to find out?" Asked Rouge.

"No not really, Mephiles overheard the servants talking. Apparently, if he concentrates enough, he can appear in any mirror in the castle. So he listened to a conversation a couple of servants were having. Anyway, Rose has convinced Timothy that they fight lots of battles with other kingdoms, but she always had her kingdom as the good one. Poor Timothy didn't have any reason to question that. Anyway, she has him thinking they are a prosperous realm that is fighting against lots of other evil little kingdoms."

Shadow snorted, the idea was ridiculous. Rose would join any evil countries and then when they weren't looking, she'd swallow both the good and the bad countries and make them part of her kingdom. It was the way she operated after all. "What do you think about this Nightmare?"

The white and black hedgehog shook his head. "The idea of it is preposterous, there is no way Rose would do anything good unless she would gain something that would convince her not to try and take the country for awhile."

"What else did you hear Dusk?"

"Well..." Dusk started looking uncomfortable.

"What?"

"Shadow, can I talk to you privately for a minute?" Shadow and Dusk left the table and went into the kitchen. Rouge and the others strained to hear what they were saying. They didn't need to strain to hear Shadow's reaction.

"WHAT?!" He roared. He stormed out of the kitchen and practically threw himself into his chair. "Of all the stories liars have concocted, this is the worst!" Shadow looked like he was trying not to swear, and it was obviously taking a lot of effort.

"Shadow I'm sorry! But Timothy believes that you're the brother of his father, instead of actually his father, and he believes you killed his father after having someone hypnotize him and set him on Rose." Shadow closed his eyes, one of them was twitching.

"I am going to kill that girl." He muttered.

"Shadow, don't you think you had better try and talk to Timothy first?"

"Hmm." They could all tell that Shadow was trying to think of what options he had.

"Would this be a bad time to mention that Rose has Timothy wanting to destroy you?" Shadow's eyes flashed open. He stood slowly.

"Excuse me, I have to go blast something." When the green light faded, Shadow was gone. Rouge sighed and exchanged a glance with Chaos, they started cleaning up.

***

Alexio emerged from Petunia's room, he had been standing by her bed all night, guarding her from any potential threats. He had dark circles under his eyes, and it was obvious he was tired. But he stubbornly refused to go to bed, he insisted that he had to protect her. As soon as the door shut behind him, he ran into Dusk. "Hey Alexio! Good morning!" Said the cheerful hedgehog.

Alexio grunted and turned away, there was another guard protecting Petunia at the moment, so he could head to the barracks and get some sleep. Dusk continued following him, chattering about various things. The weather, how nice Alexio looked this morning (yeah right), and some science experiments he had done that didn't turn out quite right. "Say, do you know where I could find Timothy this fine morning?"

Relieved, Alexio pointed in the direction of one of the halls. Dusk thanked him and went off in that direction. Alexio smiled slightly, Dusk's enthusiasm was great, but not when he was so tired...

***

Timothy was looking at a mirror with black glass, the look on his face was thoughtful. And the strange thing about the mirror was that it did not reflect anything. Dusk opened the door and came in. "Good morning Timmy!"

"Timothy." Was the almost automatic reply. Dusk grinned.

"'Kay then, good morning Timothy. How are you doing on this fine morning?"

"I don't know, I feel weird." Was the reply this time. Timothy was sitting cross legged on the floor. His head lowered. "Dusk, have you ever had a feeling that you feel you can't tell your parents about?"

"Sure, why?" Dusk crouched by Timothy.

"I keep on seeing the face of this Shadow guy that Mom showed me, Shadow killed my father she says, but I keep on getting the feeling that... that something's wrong with that story. And I don't want to go to her and tell her that something she'll probably have believed for years is wrong."

Dusk nodded, this was an interesting situation. If Shadow had been there, he would have told Dusk Timothy was now open to ideas, and that Dusk should tell him the real story. But the thought of that didn't even cross Dusk's mind. "You know... I used to have more siblings than I do now."

"Really?" Timothy looked at him.

"Yeah, they died, including the one who was almost like my twin." Dusk looked at the floor for a moment, then back at Timothy. "Sometimes I wonder if he'd miss me if it had been me who had died instead. Or if my other siblings would miss me if I had died too." Timothy was shocked by this confession, he hugged Dusk.

"I'm sure they would have." He said. Dusk smiled.

"Ya think so?"

"I'm certain."

"Okay then." Dusk bounced upright. "We'll find out the answer to your problem together as well." He looked around as if they were sharing a great secret and added, "And we'll avoid questioning parents unless absolutely necessary!" They both laughed and walked out of the hall.

***

Shadow stood in the middle of a clearing he had just made. His breathing was a little irregular, but it didn't matter to him. He felt marginally better now that he had destroyed something. He ran a hand through his quills. Why hadn't he listened to Rouge before and brought Timothy back with him?

And what if he actually did have powers that Shadow couldn't detect? What if Rose knew about them and had shown Timothy how to use them when Dusk wasn't there to notice? He sat down with a sigh. What was he going to do if Timothy came to try and assassinate him or something? What if he had to attack Timothy?

What if he killed Timothy accidentally? Where no one could see him, Shadow started to cry. This was one of the times where he didn't know what to do, and was afraid of losing someone he cared for. It was the third time it had ever happened.

**Sorry for not getting around to updating this sooner! I just didn't have any inspiration until I looked at the previous chapter recently and thought "hey... this would be cool!" etc. And so this chapter was born! I made it a little longer to hopefully make up for the lack of updating. If you have any ideas, review or PM me! ^_^**

**Disclaimer: CrazyNutSquirrel doesn't own Shadow, Rouge, Mephiles, or Sonic and co. She owns Shadow's siblings, Rose, Rose's soldiers, Alexio, Petunia, and Timothy. Oh yeah, and she owns all the phantoms except the one named Phantom, who happens to be dead. He died in Demon Dance. But then again... if Rose didn't die in Demon Dance... did Phantom really die either? :D**

**Shhh Disclaimer! You might get the reader's hopes up! If I don't bring Phantom back some of the readers might be disappointed. R&R please. :)**


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